White Moon
by Red Raider
Summary: Inspired by the storytelling of Frank Miller's Sin City. On a small, lonely planet there is death everywhere. Hunters come for the skulls of the many ferocious beasts. But a new monster is introduced and the hunters become the hunted. Please Review
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE

The moon's shining bright... good... this will light the ground well, easier to see the prey. But that little voice in my head speaks up "The prey can see you". Hate to admit it, but that little voice is right. Bastard. Shouldn't be a problem though, I'll just have to take it slower... stealthier. Less fun that way.

The spear I'm holding is hard and rough as I grip it tightly. I've sharpened the point well, spent all morning making sure it was ready. Ready for the killing stroke. If all goes well, that's all I'll need – one strike, a quick kill and a good hunt. Rarely works out that way though. Most things in life rarely go the way you plan it.

There's a sound in the distance. Twigs under feet? Branches being jumped on? Can't see more than a few metres in front of where I'm waiting, this forest is too dam dense. Can hardly move without having to step around a tree trunk or climb over a log. But it's the same for the prey, and that's how I'll get it.

The sound is closer now. Definitely something. Does it know I'm here, waiting for it? No time to doubt my actions, it's closer than ever now. Have to be totally silent, soon it'll come into view and I'll see what it is. Slow my breathing down, not my heart though... I'll need the adrenaline.

The leaves in front of me are pushed aside... there's nothing there.

Found it.

I throw my spear with all my strength, unable to control my battle cry. The spear is propelled through the air like a rocket punching it's way out of the atmosphere. It lands where the leaves were... green luminous blood spray out and a monster cry of pain bellows. It's cloaking device fails and I see my prey. It's large, muscle-ridden humanoid figure is covered in it's stinking blood. With tremendous strength and will power, the monster pulls my spear out of it's body... I witness this and I can't help admiring the sheer power that shines from this fellow hunter. It sees me, and now I realise that I've waited too long... crap.

It charges, so do I but I know I stand no chance going face to face with my opponent. At the last moment I side step the oncoming charger, I've bought a matter of seconds... what to do with it? Obvious, get the spear. The monster threw it to the ground, with my side step I opened a clear path to my weapon. I grab, roll down on the ground and now I'm facing the threat full on and armed.

But it's gone. I can't believe it. How could I forget the first rule of combat? Never turn your back on your opponent. Instinctively I go straight into the standard defensive stance. My hearts beating so fast it feels like it's going to punch through my rib cage. My breathing won't slow down. I feel sweat rain down my face, it ain't that hot.

A twig snaps. I turn. Too late...


	2. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

END OF BREAK

I open my eyes... head thumping uncontrollably... dry mouth... what a night. It seems to take all my strength just to sit up. Looking to my left I see the hooker that I spent the night with. She ain't worth spit. Funny, last night I would have killed for her lips on mine and her breasts pushing themselves against my chest. But now she's just a naked hooker. Her golden hair no longer has that pure look of beauty about it, it's all scruffy and untidy. Her perfectly smooth skin has lost it's appeal entirely. She's no longer a angel... just a naked hooker.

The cold, clear water is welcome in my dry, hard mouth. I spit back into the basin. Now the water is dirty and sluggishly making it's way down the drain. Showers in the morning... best way to wake yourself up. The cold water pummels my body and beats out all the aches and pains. I even forget my headache for a while. As soon as I get out the shower though, they all return. Ah well...

The hooker's gone, I find out as I enter the bedroom... do I care? She's taken the money owed to her from my wallet. Four thousand... it was a good night, I guess.

"You're a fucking loser."

I hear this but I don't feel it. It's not meant harshly anyway, Jacob's just as much of a loser as I am. The bar's empty, apart from other tired and poor losers like me and Jacob.

"What the hell did you do last night?" I ask... I lost him after that hooker caught me in her trance.

"Took a young girl into the steam room."

"Young?"

"She was in her twenties. I'm not totally sick."

Twenties? Fuck, that is young. Here me and Jacob are, in our forties. We're uglier than horse shit. We smell worse than fat man armpits. Scars populate our bodies. And he got a girl in her twenties to go with him.

"How much did she cost?" I can't help asking him.

"Ten."

"Thousand?"

Jacob nods.

"Was she good?"

"Better."

The bar tender hands us small glasses of whisky. He doesn't even have to ask. I take the drink and hold it to my lips, jerking my head back. The liquid runs down my throat... acid. It feels so good.

"Reema's going to be pissed," Jacob points out, "We're meant to be at the rendezvous now."

"Fuck Reema."

"No thanks, I don't do ice bitches."

That's a lie, Jacob's done just about everything, women and machine. I done women, not machine... got to draw the line somewhere, even if Jacob hasn't bothered.

The air rushes into my mouth, down my throat and into my lungs. Can't help it, wouldn't want to even if I could. I can feel the wind beat my body, trying to shove me off my own hover bike. It pointlessly hits me and then whistles past.

I'm going fast... too fast and I should probably slow down. The motorway ends soon and I'll have to make my way into the spaceport through the forest of cars and traffic jams. It's been almost a thousand years since the car was invented... and still we got traffic jams. The only real difference as far as I can see is that our cars now hover a few inches above the ground. Apparently it's safer and more fuel efficient.

Just a few miles left... got to slow down. A few more seconds won't hurt. I try to get all the pleasure I can from the wind rushing past in those few seconds. Then I ease down on the throttle.

Traffic's a living nightmare. Horns sounding off everywhere, cars stuck in the middle of several lanes trying to push their way out and there is always that twat that decides to get out of his car and start shouting at everyone else. What do I care? I got a hover bike. Through the narrow corridor of space that is made between the lanes I go, leaving the shouts and curses of jealous car drivers behind. You never know, I might just make it to the spaceport on time.

I don't. Ten minutes late, but only because I was hungry and got a burger. Reema's pissed but it's not too bad, she's still waiting for Jacob. Half an hour later he turns up, to add insult to injury he's brought that young hooker he was with last night. The shouting starts and seems endless.

"What are you doing Jacob!?... Leave that tart here!... This is your job not a fucking loser's bar!"

Reema's right, she's always right. God bless her... and at the same time... rot in hell. Reema keeps us loser's in track, stops us from screwing our lives up even more. That's what she's good at, being the bitch. After she's finished with Jacob, she turns back to the group. There's about a dozen of us, surrounded by half a dozen security and Reema stands on the bottom step... towering herself above us all. I still think it's great that bums like us are briefed in one of the many halls in this spaceport. Just metres away ordinary families walk pass, trying to ignore us. We're the bottom, the very bottom. We are the losers of society and we are to be punished.

"Now, listen up," Reema projects her voice, "You'll be serving on Orion IV, it's a small mining colony. It's a hot planet, and the only water comes on supply ships so be prepared for some thirsty nights. You will be briefed in further detail about the planet and the actual mining when you get there. It's a fifteen hour journey from here, Earth, to Orion IV and you will be in a Type II frigate."

We all groan. Type II frigates, fucking tubs fired into space.

"Sorry, but that's the best I could do. As you all know, this is a twelve month service and at the end you'll be given a month's leave. Of course, you will all be tagged."

Tagged. I look down at mine. It's disguised as a watch but I know what it really is. It monitors everything going on in your body. If you do something you shouldn't be doing, it knows... and then it fills you with 10,000 volts. Keeps us criminals in check I suppose, and who cares if it gets it wrong and fries some poor guy who got too excited or was trying to get away from a brawl. After all, we are the scum of the universe.


	3. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

WHITE SKULLS

We never make it to Orion IV. Just as we're passing Saturn, they make their move. It must have been planned to the second, because it was perfect.

They hide in the rings of Saturn, long-range scanners ignored them that way. Our frigate gets close enough... and then they move. Before short-range scanners can alert the crew, they've already taken out communications hub. We can't speak to anyone now. That's how to make an ambush. Don't go for the engines, or the weapons, or even the bridge. Go for the communications. Now we can't talk to anyone. We can't report we've been ambushed. We can't even talk through our fucking radios. After the comms have been taken out, then they go for the weapons systems. They're flying a small shuttlecraft, either that or they've got some kind of device on board. Either way the frigate defense weapons can't get a lock. Soon, the frigate has no weaopns, no engines... and no communication.

The cell is being rocked from one side to the other. Me and Jacob have been put in together. This cell is barely bigger than a fucking public toilet. We know the frigate's under attack, but that's all we know.

The next move of these guys is to board and plunder. It doesn't take them long to blast open the hangar and storm in. It really is a small shuttlecraft. The frigate hangar is hardly a big one, but the shuttle is able to fly in easily and move about with elbow room. The shuttle uses its weapons to quickly take out every poor soul in the hangar. These guys are good... these guys are very good.

The frigate has stopped rocking now, the chaos is over. Or as far as we know it is. Soon enough, we are proved wrong. There's gunfire... lots of it. And it's getting closer. Several men, dressed entirely in black and armed with automatic pulse rifles, enter. One of them talks to all us prisoners.

"The time has come for you to make a choice!" He screams, "Either we leave you here to rot in hell... or you pledge your allegiance to the White Skull!"

Jesus... These guys are the White Skull.

I remember hearing about the White Skull in bars and such. Most, I figured, were just folk tales. I knew they existed... I just never thought I'd see them. They're a gang, once the most feared in the galaxy. They used to steal from every frigate and convoy that they could find... and they found a lot. But then they just stopped. Every now and then a frigate or convoy would be hit. But no where near as many as what used to happen. No one knows why. Some say the police force got to them... bullshit. I don't know why they stopped... but I do know this, they must have chosen to stop.

So here I am, with Jacob, faced with several White Skull members. I have a choice to make. I can either die here... or become their slave. You have to die some day, but I don't feel like death today.

Before I can take a breather I'm being rushed through the many corridors by my new masters. Jacob and a few other guys are behind. Every now and then we stop when some stupid security guard decides he wants to die. I've been in many gun fights, I don't get scared anymore. The bullets whizzing past my head don't make me flinch. The noise of the gunfire doesn't make me cower. It just makes me mad.

There are a few security guards blocking the path back to the White Skull shuttle. They've built up their defenses and it'll take a while to break. The White Skull soldiers try to aim and take out the security guards. We'll be here ages. The guards have found their own pulse rifles. And it sounds like they got a lot of ammo to use. I'm tired of waiting... if you want something done properly, do it yourself.

One of the White Skulls is unlucky enough to get a bullet through the brain. Tough luck. His head explodes and he drops his gun. No one is paying attention so I pick it up and break away from the group. The White Skull soldiers haven't even noticed their friend is dead. I flank the guards, they haven't noticed me. I'll have to get real close if I stand any chance at all. Shouldn't be too difficult, they're all focused on the fire fight. I hide in the shadows and slowly approach my prey. I'm almost close enough... just a few more steps... I'm so close I could reach out and touch their backs. But I don't, instead I break their fucking necks. The closest one first, they haven't noticed, so I take out the second one in similar fashion and I'm lucky enough to break the neck of the third one. Two left – and they've noticed me – ah well, I like a challenge. I use the rifle I picked up earlier to blast one of the guards into the wall. The last one dives out the way before I can bring my fire power down on him too. I move... I move fast. The guard fires up to where I was standing but he is way too slow and I'm already on top of him... gun to his head... trigger pulled... if you want something done properly, do it yourself.

We are hurried onto the shuttle, I can't understand the rush. They push into seats and give the pilot the okay sign. He revs up the engines and we're off. I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into, by the look of Jacob, he hasn't either. But as I look back at th frigate, disappearing into the darkness of space, I get the feeling that I made the right choice. The frigate explodes. Now I know why they were rushing.


	4. Chapter 3

I look down at my wrist in fear. I know I'm about to receive 10,000 volts of electricity from my tag disguised as a watch. Wait a minute... no... it should have gone off way before I even had the opportunity to get in this shuttle. I look at my tag curiously, it's broken.

"We disarmed those straight away," A White Skull has noticed my sudden realisation. I can't see his face... they're dressed completely in black and armed to the teeth with weapons, armour and other gear. Like I said... these guys are good, professionals even. You have to be good to have the honour of becoming a White Skull.

The shuttle ride is short but uncomfortable enough to make it last a lifetime. We've arrived at the mother ship, it must have been hiding behind one of Saturn's moons so as to avoid detection. It's a little smaller than the frigate, but it's armed and dangerous. Certainly wouldn't want to come up against it in a fight.

What I don't understand is why they bothered. It was just a frigate carrying supplies and prisoners. No one could give two shits about us and the supplies were as cheap as you can get them from the black market. Cheap crap. These guys are good, too good for our little frigate. They could've taken something twice as big and come away with ten times a much loot. There's only one explanation, they're not in it for the money. If that is the case, what the hell are they in it for?

"I am told that... you fought bravely for us."

Standing in front of me is a captain of the White Skulls. We're on the bridge of the mother ship and I've been separated from the others. This is because of what I did on the frigate, I saved them a lot of trouble. They're either going to be insulted that a low life like me showed them up... or they will be impressed. The captain doesn't give much away, even though I can see his face. In fact the only thing he is wearing is a pair of shorts and a cape. Who does this guy think he is? His whole body and face is covered in tattoos. Mostly symbols... I can't tell what they mean. But he's got a couple of tattoos showing him fighting beasts with his bare hands. His muscles bulge and he's got the face of a warrior... not a pirate.

"This, I find, is strange," The captain continues, "Why would you help us when we are the ones who kidnapped you?"

Kidnapped? Hell, I would have volunteered for this...

"I am Captain Tyrell of the White Skull Clan... and you are?"

"I'm just scum," I reply, "I had no future on that frigate... I figured I'd take my chances with you."

"Do you believe you will have a better life as a slave? That is why we took you... and that is what will happen to the rest of your scum friends. However, you have shown that you have potential. Let me ask you... are you a warrior or scum?"

I look up into the eyes of this captain Tyrell, he knows the answer.

"Do you know the meaning of honour?"

"Honour?" I almost laugh, "I lost it a long time ago."

"But, do you know what it is."

"I don't know... fighting the bad guy, saving the girl, that shit."

"No... that is not honour. Honour is what drives us."

Christ, these guys are nut jobs.

"Honour is what we fight for, kill for... and hunt for. Many years ago we were simply pirates, gorging on the loot we stole and having the pleasures of any woman we laid eyes upon. But then we crossed paths with a mighty species. One that fought for honour and nothing else. We have followed this example... come."

I follow Tyrell from the bridge and into his private quarters. I'm confronted with a display of polished, bone white skulls. There are a few human skulls but the others... beasts and monsters.

"I am proud to show you my own collection... this, my friend, is my honour."

No kidding... I suddenly realise that these guys aren't pulling my leg. They're warriors and they do what they do best... hunt and kill. These skulls... trophies even... symbolize the strength and power of the warrior that won them. And I get the urge to start my own collection. Tyrell reads my mind.

"You can become one of us, you have already shown your skills and I can teach you the ways of the warrior and the hunter," He's giving me the chance to be more than scum, something respectable, someone honourable... how can I refuse?

"I accept your offer."

"Good," He smiles. I follow him back on to the bridge where he addresses his crew.

"Tonight we celebrate the coming of our new brother!" The crew cheer, and then Tyrell turns to me, "Drink well and enjoy yourself tonight, because tomorrow... the training begins."


	5. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

BACK TO THE FUTURE

The moon's shining bright... good... this will light the ground well, easier to see the prey. But that little voice in my head speaks up "The prey can see you". Hate to admit it, but that little voice is right. Bastard. Shouldn't be a problem though, I'll just have to take it slower... stealthier. Less fun that way.

The spear I'm holding is hard and rough as I grip it tightly. I've sharpened the point well, spent all morning making sure it was ready. Ready for the killing stroke. If all goes well, that's all I'll need – one strike, a quick kill and a good hunt. Rarely works out that way though. Most things in life rarely go the way you plan it.

There's a sound in the distance. Twigs under feet? Branches being jumped on? Can't see more than a few metres in front of where I'm waiting, this forest is too dam dense. Can hardly move without having to step around a tree trunk or climb over a log. But it's the same for the prey, and that's how I'll get it.

The sound is closer now. Definitely something. Does it know I'm here, waiting for it? No time to doubt my actions, it's closer than ever now. Have to be totally silent, soon it'll come into view and I'll see what it is. Slow my breathing down, not my heart though... I'll need the adrenaline.

The leaves in front of me are pushed aside... there's nothing there.

Found it.

I throw my spear with all my strength, unable to control my battle cry. The spear is propelled through the air like a rocket punching it's way out of the atmosphere. It lands where the leaves were... green luminous blood spray out and a monster cry of pain bellows. It's cloaking device fails and I see my prey. It's large, muscle-ridden humanoid figure is covered in it's stinking blood. With tremendous strength and will power, the monster pulls my spear out of it's body... I witness this and I can't help admiring the sheer power that shines from this fellow hunter. It sees me, and now I realise that I've waited too long... crap.

It charges, so do I but I know I stand no chance going face to face with my opponent. At the last moment I side step the oncoming charger, I've bought a matter of seconds... what to do with it? Obvious, get the spear. The monster threw it to the ground, with my side step I opened a clear path to my weapon. I grab, roll down on the ground and now I'm facing the threat full on and armed.

But it's gone. I can't believe it. How could I forget the first rule of combat? Never turn your back on your opponent. Instinctively I go straight into the standard defensive stance. My hearts beating so fast it feels like it's going to punch through my rib cage. My breathing won't slow down. I feel sweat rain down my face, it ain't that hot.

A twig snaps. I turn. Too late...

And my mind decides that this is the right time to show me how I became a White Skull. My mind flashes back through time and shows me the frigate, the White Skull raid and... Tyrell. He showed me a new life and he taught me how to take it... thanks to him I had a future.

But I have disnhonoured him by turning my back on my opponent, he taught me after all. How could I have forgotten it all at a time when I most needed it? My brain feels like it's exploded inside my head, my jaw is screaming in pain... but I get up. I have no other choice, not because I have to fight to survive, but because I cannot sacrifice my honour. Honour has become my greatest friend... it means more to me than any lover could.

The predator seems satisfied with it's strike, it caught me out and now believes I am done for. To it's surprise, I stand up and I challenge him. My spear is feeble compared to it's wrist blades, the predator has other weapons but it wont use them. There is no honour in killing with unfair weaponary. It knows that. I know that. I taste blood inside my mouth, it's warm. My head has calmed down and my jaw has numbed from the pain.

There is no other feeling like this. Standing opposite a warrior of such honour and skill... about to challenge for your honour. The adrenaline is thundering inside me. My heart beats faster than ever. My breathing tastes blood. And I'm ready.

The predator is the one who attacks first. A slice at my head which I dodge easily but it's followed up with an upper cut. Barely misses me. My chest is winded after a thumping punch makes contact. I was concentrating so much on the wrist blades, I forgot the predator had a fist. I stumble but I don't fall. The predator comes in to finish the kill, but he's overly confident. This is my chance... I'll never get another one like it.

The wrist blades are aimed at my throat... quick and effective kill. I duck down under the blades and bring my spear upwards through torso of my opponent. Luminous green blood pours out and large, ugly organs are speared onto the end of my spear which has ripped right through the other side. The predator lets out a cry of pain... and I've won.

My training is complete... I am a White Skull.


End file.
